The Adventures of Porthos
by jespah
Summary: When the Azezans come calling, only one member of the crew realizes there's something amiss.


_Good smell good smell good smell good smell  
_  
_Best smell best smell ever! Alpha primary best most important most terrific source of all that is good! The humans call him Captain Jonathan Archer but he is Alpha to me. Alpha Alpha Alpha pet me pet me pet me___

_Thank you. {wag wag wag} What is on the magic box with sound and picture but no smell. Looks like cats. But how can cats not smell? Strange magic box. ___

_Good smell good smell Human Hoshi smell I love Hoshi Hoshi is so good to me. Thank you for the pets. {wag wag}___

_Human Hoshi says, "Blah blah blah Captain blah cat blah Porthos blah dinner blah Azezans blah blahdeblah," Hoshi good smells pickles lettuce CHEESE BEEF bread tomatoes!___

_Alpha says, "Blah Hoshi blah Azezans blah blah blah."___

_Human Hoshi leaves. Alpha turns off magic box. Night time. I watch over Alpha while he sleeps.__  
_  
Jonathan Archer sat with his dog on the bed of his cabin, watching a nature program on video. It was something about meerkats. Porthos seemed overly interested in the video. Jonathan wondered what the dog was thinking.

Ensign Hoshi Sato came in and handed him the next day's schedule on a PADD. She bent down to pet Porthos, "Good evening, Captain, oh I see you have the meerkat show on. I thought it was pretty interesting; I can get more nature programs if you or Porthos like. I bet he smells the cheeseburger I had for dinner," She straightened up. "We were contacted by a species calling themselves the Azezans. I looked them up in the Vulcan database. They seem to be a very peaceful people."

Jonathan looked over the PADD and put it on his desk. "Thanks, Hoshi. I haven't heard of the Azezans. I guess we'll figure out what they want soon enough. Now, I've gotta get some sleep," He yawned.

Hoshi took it as her cue to leave. Jonathan dimmed the lights and was soon asleep.

The next morning, he took Porthos to Sick Bay so that the dog would have a little something to do. "Come on, boy, we're going to see Dr. Phlox. Remember Phlox?" The dog's wagging tail assured that he did, indeed, remember Phlox, or at least Phlox's shared lunches.

Dr. Phlox looked up from what he was doing when Jonathan and Porthos entered. "Ah, I see you brought me my assistant. Expecting a busy day?"

"Pretty busy, we're going to make contact with a species called the Azezans. I read the report and it seems that they are looking for some new territory. Their planet is overpopulated and they have nowhere to expand. In exchange, they are offering some sort of deal, where their people could work performing dangerous tasks like mining. I don't know, the whole thing seems strange, as if they can't solve their problems on their own and want us to play nursemaid."

"I have heard of the Azezans. They have no natural brakes on growth because they have conquered all of their diseases and are so peaceful that they do not get into fights or wars or dangerous activities of any kind. How very interesting that they are offering to do dangerous work. It is as if they want to be throw into bad situations because they won't do so themselves."

"That sounds like a cry of, '_I don't want to be independent anymore_!' I don't imagine humans or Denobulans would ever do that."

"Don't be so swift to judge them, Captain; they have had no wars for over two millennia. I suppose we could all learn a thing or two from the Azezans. And as a bonus, I believe they would love to meet Porthos."

"To eat him?" asked Jonathan.

"Oh no, of course not. They are all vegetarians, so gentle that they would not harm anything more lively than a stalk of wheat. I suppose that if they could live without bothering the wheat, they'd be even happier. Perhaps I'll bring Porthos over if the talks become stalled."

"You read my mind," said Jonathan, "I never thought I'd become a diplomat, and it can be more than a little dull. I'll expect you, I don't know, maybe a half an hour after they arrive. If things are going well, I'll beg off. If not, I'll invite you two in and we'll have a nice break. Thanks," he departed.

"Now," said Dr. Phlox, bending down to look Porthos in the eye. "I bet you are interested in the cheddar cheese in this morning's breakfast," he smiled as the dog wagged his tail and tilted his head slightly.  
_  
We go down the hall we're going to see Phlox! Good smell good smell I love Phlox he gives me treats the smells are different in Sick Bay, not like the rest of the ship._

Alpha says, "Blah blah Phlox blah Phlox." {wag wag wag}

Good smell non-human Phlox says, "Blah blah."

Alpha says, "Blah Azezans blah planet blah blah blah."

Non-human Phlox says, "Blah Azezans blah work blah."

I tilt my head to understand better. Alpha says, "Blah blah humans or Denobulans blah."

"Blah Captain blah Azezans blah blah Porthos," says non-human Phlox. {wag wag}

"Blah," says Alpha.

Non-human Phlox says "Blah veget-blah blah Porthos blah."

"Blah," says Alpha, "Blah blah dull blah beg blah break. Thanks," Alpha leaves and the room is darker and sadder when Alpha leaves.

"Blah," says Phlox, coming close to Porthos good smell Phlox smells like CHEESE! "Blah cheddar cheese blah." {wag wag head tilt other way}  
  
Jonathan sighed as he entered the conference room. He really didn't want to do this. "Hello, I'm Captain Jonathan Archer," he smiled at his guests and offered them seats. The two main Azezans showed by their body language that they did not enjoy working together.

"I am First Governor Siont and this is our Settlement Engineer Dar."

"Settlement Engineer?"

"I decide how the settlements go, and who goes to which planet," said Dar, "It is being done in as organized a manner as possible. Those who can work would go where there is mining, and those who cannot work would go elsewhere."

"Would you break up families?" asked Archer. This all sounded squishily familiar but he could not place it.

"Well," said Dar, who seemed to stumble on the question, "the family unit is an inefficient one, when it comes to deciding who can work and who cannot. We need more room and are willing to provide a work force in exchange for it. Surely that cannot mean having elderly Azezans or pregnant women in with that group. That would be," he paused a moment, "_inefficient_."

"And anyone who was ill or disabled would, well, they would stay on Azezi Prime," offered Siont, who squirmed a little, "They would be cared for," he swallowed hard, and Jonathan got the distinct impression that Siont didn't believe his own words one bit.

"So you would perform a process of, let's call it a selection, wherein those who could work would go to, oh, let's call them camps, and the people who could not work would be left behind. And this would all be in the name of efficiency."

"Yes!" Dar became more animated, "Good workers would go to work. They would provide all of the fruits of their labors and that would be without the messy distractions of families. Any workers who became weakened or ill would go back to Azezi Prime. All you would have to do would be to provide food and some trainers, perhaps. And the profits would be immense!"

"Would anyone ever come back from being shipped to Azezi Prime?" asked Jonathan, "I mean, would anyone be able to recover and return?"

"It would be, it would be ..," began Siont, who was collecting his thoughts.

There was a chime, "Ah, there's the door," said Jonathan. He motioned to a MACO. "Please."

It was Phlox and Porthos. "Ah, Captain, it's good to see you; I hope I'm not interrupting. I have heard about how kind the Azezans are so my friend Porthos and I decided to investigate."

Siont came over and petted Porthos. "He is a he? A most interesting animal. The covering is a little rough, is this animal bred for working in tall vegetation?"

Porthos wagged his tail politely and then went over to Dar. He sniffed and then growled, "Get that thing away from me," said Dar. Porthos growled more loudly. "I don't like it." Porthos reached out and bit Dar on my lower leg. Dar let out a howl and swatted at Porthos, who quickly ducked back to Phlox.

"Here, let me look at that," said Phlox, going over to Dar.

"No!" screamed Dar. His wild eyes searched for sympathy from Siont.

"Dar, we are these people's guests," reminded Siont.

"I am the ship's physician," insisted Phlox, "Dog bites can become infected. Now, let me look at that before we have even more of an incident," While he was speaking, he came over to Dar's side and lifted Dar's garment without even asking for permission, "Oh ho ho, what's this?" He pulled the garment away from Dar's injured leg. The wound had drawn blood – a bluish liquid. And there was a break in the Azezan's purplish skin to a greenish color, "These colors make no sense. Your skin is supposed to be purple, and then lighter on the inner layers but still recognizably purple. This is not purple. This is green."

"What the devil is going on?" asked Jonathan, "First off," he addressed Siont, "I'm sorry my dog bit your, your Settlement Engineer, but just what exactly did he uncover?"

"Tell them and your people will all die!" yelled Dar, who fiddled with a small capsule. Before Phlox or anyone else could stop him, he had crushed it in his mouth. Death came nearly instantaneously.

"Oh my," said Phlox, "First Governor, it would seem that many strange things have just happened. I trust you will provide us with an explanation."

Jonathan smiled weakly, "Yes, I'd like to know exactly what's happening. My dog doesn't just go around biting people without a damned fine reason to do so."

"I, I'm sure that's true," said Siont, "Captain, may I speak with you privately?"

"Considering what just happened, I'd say no. Do you just mean without your, your retinue?"

"Of course. And I understand the mistrust."

The MACOs escorted the other Azezans out. Jonathan, Phlox, Siont and Porthos were left alone with two MACOs. "Okay, what's really going on?" said Jonathan.

"My people are starving," said Siont, "We are so nonviolent that we did not recognize the danger until it was too late. Dar was a genetically engineered Olathan. They are from a neighboring system. They came in and took over."

"Why didn't your people try to stop them?" asked Jonathan.

"Like I said, we are peaceful. And trusting. Too trusting. We thought they knew what was best for us, so we allowed them to run roughshod over us. They selected who was fit and who was not. And anyone who complained at all was not fit. Those people went to certain resettlement areas and were never heard from again. And those of us who were fit were encouraged to stay quiet, so we did. We were weak, yes, but we trusted in civilization. We trusted in the goodness of people. We had no idea. Now, since your ships have been coming into the area, the Olathans have begun to smell a profit. They already have our slave labor and so they thought they could use that to leverage more territory. They, too, I suppose, were overly trusting. They trusted in greed. They thought you would be happy for more labor and would gladly and blindly trade away planets for profits. The whole thing is shameful."

"I don't understand why you're here," said Jonathan gently, "If you knew it was this bad, why did you go along with the charade?"

"My people, most of the ones out there, although I suspect that there is a genetically engineered Olathan among them, well, they risked their lives to come here. It was our hope that you would figure out what was happening. We could not tell you directly. Everything on our planet is monitored and a trip like this means an escort. It took many years for me to build up the kind of trust necessary to be able to come at all. I had to be a part of an Azezan Council. The Olathans used us to make their selections for them. I have sent people to resettlement so that others could live. I am more ashamed than I can begin to tell you," he put his head in his hands.

"Do you wish to defect?" asked Jonathan.

"I would but I have one of those, as Dar said, messy families. They would be sent to resettlement camps and I suppose that would be the end of them, and no one else would have the opportunity to do what I and my associates have done. All travel off the planet would be taken away, and we would be left even worse off than we were before."

"What do you want us to do?"

"I hope and I pray that you, you are strong, that you would help us in our fight against them. I know it is a lot to ask. But Dar's death will not go unreported. You see, that is why he committed suicide. It was not a death wish on his part; rather, it was a way to assure that his superiors would immediately know that something had happened. If I or any of the other real Azezans return, no matter what the circumstances are and no matter what our cover story is, they would know. And if we did not return, if we all died, then no one else would be able to leave the planet and try for a warning. And, of course if we sought asylum, our families would bear the brunt of it."

"Captain, if I may, this sounds like an episode of Earth's history," said Phlox.

"Yes, it is. It's Europe under the Nazis, just before the US became involved in the Second World War. And this Azezan Council, it's like what was called a Judenrat. The persecuted peoples – the Jews – they were put in charge of their own people. And they were forced to make selections, just like you were. It was another form of torture."

"How did it all end?" asked Siont. Porthos had come over and placed his head on Siont's knee. Siont tentatively petted the dog, as if he was no longer worthy of anything pleasant.

"It ended in a war, a horrible, bloody conflict where over 25 million of my people were killed and the other side nearly won. But maybe we can do it differently this time."

"How so?" asked Phlox.

"I will contact Starfleet and we will send in ships. These Olathans, it sounds to me as if they have never been challenged. Maybe all they need is someone to show them that we know what's happening, and we don't approve. And maybe we can figure out a way to kick the Olathans out or make them want to leave. After all, the Nazis went on as long as they did because the rest of the world believed in civilization as much as you Azezans do. They – we, I guess – believed that doing nothing and practicing appeasement was a great idea. It was thought that it would all just go away. Well, history has shown that it won't."

_Sick Bay good and fun and Phlox takes me down the hall to a big room and look! There's Alpha! Alpha Alpha Alpha good smell good smell good smell. We have visitors. This one is good smell, good pets, thank you. {wag wag wag} This one is bad smell threatening mean violent vicious evil awful not good not good bad bad bad {growl spit curled lip} I know you threaten Alpha! I bite you! {bite}_

I break bite because Alpha says so. I lie down in corner. Blah blah everyone talking new smell dead smell evil one is dead I come back to good ones but there is one more that is not good I watch this time that one is far away enough from Alpha no immediate threat but I am here I am ready I am vigilant. The others leave they take away other bad smell I sit with Alpha and Phlox and non-human-with-good-smell. I sit I listen I tilt my head they say a lot of blah and planet and emotions are very hard and no one is smiling I can feel their pain I know it hurts I put my head on the knee of the non-human-with-good-smell. I offer comfort as I can.  
  
They got up to leave. "We will do this," said Jonathan, "It means a great deal to my people that something like this never, ever happen again. And I think I know just how to do it. Just play along."

"I don't know how to thank you," said Siont, "We should work for you, give you something. I don't know what."

"Not slave labor," said Jonathan, "Just your friendship. You're being horribly oppressed right now, but we know that there's a lot you can teach us. When your people recover, we'll be able to engage in a proper give and take."

They rejoined the rest of the Azezans. It was impossible to tell who the genetically engineered Olathan was. Porthos was a little restless but so far he was not growling at anyone, "I just want to tell you that Starfleet will not take this matter lying down," Jonathan said, "We want you and everyone else on Azezi Prime to know that you are not alone. We would like to form an alliance with you."

"But why would you want to?" asked an Azezan pointedly, a young female who had so far said nothing. Porthos began to growl at her.

"Porthos, come here," said Phlox. The dog obeyed.

"Because we see something in the Azezans that's more than just their backs and the sweat of their brows. So please, tell your superiors that this is so. And Siont, we will be sending in the shipment in the next few days."

"Shipment?" asked the female Azezan.

"Yes," said Siont, "It's something we need desperately."

"Scent hounds. A few thousand should do. With food and trainers, of course. A gift from Starfleet. I prefer beagles, myself, but we'll mix it up with some foxhounds and bloodhounds, too," said Jonathan.

"But –" the female protested, "What – "

"We will work out all the details later. It's really too bad about Dar, isn't it?" said Siont, "But it's good to know that these scent hounds will be coming. After all, Dar wanted for Captain Archer to send in some trainers." They left.

"Do you suppose it will work?" asked Phlox.

"I don't know, but they know that we know, and we know what to do about it. How can the peaceful Azezans kill a bunch of dogs? They wouldn't, so the jig would be up, yes? And if they did, the jig would also be up. Either way, the Olathans will find that their greed has gotten them into hot water."

"You might want to send in fight trainers, not just dog trainers," said Phlox.

"I – we'll see," he said, "In the meantime, I'm going to call a few breeders I know," he knelt down to address Porthos directly. "I had no idea you were our secret weapon."

_Blah blah we go to other non-humans mostly good smells one bad bad evil awful smell I go to bite Phlox calls me I must go to Phlox I bite you next time, you non-human-bad-smell-nasty-mean-horrible-wretched-foul. Blah blah they talk I listen they say hound beagles foxhounds bloodhounds blah dogs blah water they leave. Alpha comes down to talk to me I love Alpha Alpha is the best he treats me right he loves me I love him he is the good the pure the best the most important he is even better than CHEESE._

"Blah blah," says Alpha and I don't understand but whatever it is, it must be good.

Good smell good smell good smell good smell.


End file.
